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January 28, 2009

Tuttimelon: What Gives?

"Coming Soon" signs have been posted over the menu board at TuttimelonBelgano Tuttimelon(?) since they opened. Nothing has changed since JT's comment on October 26th: "Tried going today, but there's no froyo. Supposedly froyo will be available 'next month.'" The counter staff only says "soon" when asked for details on when "next month" will be. And Tuttimelon's website still lists 3901 24th St as "coming soon" (seems to be a trend).

Last week, Gwen Sanderson (President, Noe Valley Merchants and Professional Association) left a comment asking for public support: "Regarding frozen yogurt, the new owners of Belgano are trying to get through permitting to put in the machines. But the city is holding it up. They could use community support."We tried to get a hold of the owners to no avail. We also searched for permit records and found nothing. The only information close to useful is this letter to the GM of Tuttimelon [PDF] from Larry Badiner (Zoning Administer for SF). In brief: "An operation of this type is very close to that of an ice cream store, which Planing Code Sections 790.90 and 790.91 consider to be large fast-food or small self-service restaurants, depending on the size of the use."

If the same information applies to Noe Valley's location, Tuttimelon/Belgano will need a conditional use permit to operate a restaurant and that means Noe's Neighborhood Commercial District would have to approve more restaurants. The three CU's approved in 2006 (after a 20-year moratorium) have been claimed: Contigo, Noe Soup, and the (stalled) restaurant from the folks at Regent Thai at Church/Jersey.

Or maybe we're wrong. Does anyone out there have better (or more complete) info? Is the City holding up the project or are existing restrictions imposed by the NV Neighborhood Commercial District? Will Noe Valley get its FroYo?

1 comments:

I spoke to an employee there a couple weeks ago who claimed that they're waiting for the warm weather to return and business to pick up again before they close the store for a week to put the new machines in.

I imagine it would be more cost-effective to not remodel your store every 12-18 months, closing it for months at a time. And who knows what they actually tell employees, so take with a grain of salt.